From 1 to 3 December 2021, in Strasbourg, the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) held its 97th plenary meeting. The Committee took decisions with respect to further work or actions to be considered by the Committee regarding a wide range of topics, including, statelessness and the right to a nationality. The Committee took note of the oral information provided on the outcome of the Technical Meeting of Experts and International Conference on Statelessness and the Right to a Nationality in Europe (Strasbourg, 23-24 September 2021), organised jointly by the CDCJ and the UNHCR. It agreed to prioritise as follow-up activities on guidance on child sensitive procedures in administrative and migration law matters for stateless children or children at risk of being stateless and guidance on the establishment of nationality, in particular for children. In an interview following the international conference on statelessness, Christophe Poirel, the Director of Human Rights, outlined recent actions by the Council of Europe, as well as planned future work to address statelessness in Europe.
Furthermore, the Committee established a working group on migration (CDCJ-MIG), with the aim to assist the CDCJ in its mandate related to the elaboration of a Guide for practitioners on administrative detention of migrants to support the implementation of existing standards in this field. The CDCJ-MIG will support the work of the CDCJ by finalising, for examination and adoption by the CDCJ in December 2022, the draft Guide for practitioners, taking into account the work previously carried out by the Committee of experts on administrative detention of migrants (CJ-DAM). The working group will perform its functions and responsibilities online between February and October 2022, with a possible finalisation of the handbook for adoption by the CDCJ in December 2022.
As of 2022, Christoph Henrichs (Germany), elected Chair, with the support of the Bureau will ensure the leadership of the Committee and lead the new challenging work ahead. The 98th Plenary meeting will take place on 1-3 June 2022.